Psalm 55:2–3

Footnotes

1. 2 Or “restless” (see Gen 27:40). The Hiphil is intransitive-exhibitive, indicating the outward display of an inner attitude.
2. 3 Heb “in my complaint.”
3. 4 The verb is a Hiphil cohortative from הוּם (hum), which means “to confuse someone” in the Qal and “to go wild” in the Niphal. An Arabic cognate means “to be out of one’s senses, to wander about.” With the vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, the cohortative probably indicates the result or effect of the preceding main verb. Some prefer to emend the form to וְאֵהוֹמָה (vé’ehomah), a Niphal of הוּם (hum), or to וְאֶהַמֶה (vé’ehameh), a Qal imperfect from הָמָה (hamah, “to moan”). Many also prefer to take this verb with what follows (see v. 3).
4. 5 Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”
5. 6 The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.
6. 7 Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. “shrill clamour”; “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (’aqah, “pressure”).
7. 8 Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.
8. 9 The verb form in the appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see ).